Cable Technology Feature Article

The Future of Dish Network is Strong, Hinges on FCC

“Dish holds a closely watched wild card in the wireless industry,” according to report by the Wall Street Journal last month. People following spectrum battles are aware of what this means. But despite the precarious future that seems to hang on calls by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC (News - Alert)), Charlie Ergen of Dish Network Corp. has publicly announced his 10-year plan for the company.

At the Milken Institute Global Conference, Ergen announced his company will provide the best solution for home and mobile devices by offering three key services: Internet, video and voice on the go and at home.

Ergon envisions that no matter where you are, you can take your video from home with you; there will be no “bill shock” over voice calls made with your mobile-accessed broadband.

Dish also secured some major ties to movie studios when they purchased Blockbuster.

As spectrum becomes increasingly valuable, decisions by the FCC can be crucial. Dish is the second-largest satellite company after DirectTV, and has been their spectrum has been subject to speculation after some FCC headlined events.

After the FCC halted AT&T’s (News - Alert) attempts to gain additional spectrum, AT&T sought the acquisition of T-Mobile, but they never found success. AT&T then gave T-Mobile a major portion of their spectrum as compensation for the failed merger.

Following these circumstances, people have speculated what this might mean for the future of Dish Networks.

Dish Networks ambitions to use their spectrum for ground-based networks still depends on permission from the FCC before evolving their envision to fruition, and since they have not been granted approval from the FCC just yet, the company strives to work with the FCC to make their future ambitions a reality.

For now, Dish Network’s Hopper is what some sources believe is the closest to the ideal of future television. Unlike stipulations that come from regular cable services, the Hopper is the center hub for the whole house. No wires needed because it communicates with existing cables. There are apps like Facebook and Pandora (News - Alert), multi-channel recording, different channel viewings from everywhere in the house, movies on demand, and even a paging system for when the remote control goes missing.